Owing to the stigma attached to the sexual wellness products, these startups still strive hard for recognition.
India has been the land of Kamasutra that gave World the meaning of eroticism and sexual fulfillment. Yet Indians to date shy away from the fact that indulging in sex is as good as having a hot brownie with ice-cream. (It’s so good..!) However, these eCommerce websites are breaking the norm of ‘typical’ and helping Indians embrace their sexuality in a more endearing way.
A recent survey concluded that the demand for pleasure toys is increasing in the Tier I and Tier II cities of India. Banking on this fact, these bold startups are doing what many would think twice for.
IMBesharam.com
IMBesharam.com is your one-stop-shop for all pleasure products. The eCommerce website hosts over 120 international brands of sexual wellness products.
The startup was founded in 2011 by Salim Rajan and Raj Armani.
They have redesigned their mobile experience to cater to the demands of the young and the adults. They also have four warehouses in four metros to drastically improve delivery times. According to Raj Armani (COO and Co-Founder), there are shoppers who spend about INR 10K – 25K every day. The company’s gross profit margins are around 250-300%.
Did you know? The sexual wellness and adult toys market in India, is worth somewhere around INR 2500 Cr. — Inc42.com
According to a media report, the company gets maximum traffic from Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad. It has also started adding customers from tier-II cities like Jaipur, Surat/Ahmedabad, and Kolkata.
Thatspersonal.com
One of the early entrants in the sexual wellness products space, Thatspersonal.com was started by former Microsoft executive Samir Saraiya in December 2013. Samir decided to return to India from Singapore after noticing that eCommerce websites like Flipkart and Snapdeal were doing well.
According to an article, its inventory sold out in the first month of its launch itself. That’s when they realised the potential of the market and decided to bridge the gap between demand and its supply.
According to a report by Thatspersonal, India contributes around 16-20 per cent of the global English searches for topics like lotions, lubricants, erotic lingerie, and adult literature and games.
The sexual wellness market in India is expected to grow at an average rate of 34.8 per cent per year from 2014 to 2019.
Kaamastra
Kaamastra is another sexual wellness brand that started in 2013. Founded by Rahber Nazir, an ex-Wipro employee, Kaamastra is an online store for adult products.
Their LinkedIn profile reads India’s largest adult products and novelties eCommerce retailing company.
The company which started with two employees has more than 20 employees now and close to 50,000 pieces of product inventory. According to youstory.com, the platform had over 150 listings in 2013 and is now touching 5,000 products.
Shycart.com
Shycart.com is a Chennai based startup for products you’re too shy to buy in the public. Vivek Raja founded this company in November 2012 when he noticed the social stigma in the country still prevails.
According to media reports online, India is the sixth most sexually active country in the world.
Shycart focused more on sexual hygiene and wellness products than intimate lifestyle products. Startups like these have given Indians the freedom to buy products that they would conventionally be shy to ask for at a shop.
Kinkpin.in
From lubes to pleasure toys, this eCommerce website is an online destination for all adult lifestyle products. Incepted under the parent company Zabava E-Retails LLP, Reetinder Singh and Mritunjay Berry started Kinkpin in June 2015.
The reason for starting this website was simple, the intimate lifestyle product section was ignored. The eCommerce website works on a marketplace model and procures products from leading brands across the globe. The idea is not to boast of a bolder lifestyle but in helping millennials explore their sexuality and other aspects of an intimate lifestyle.
The challenge that these eCommerce websites mainly face is that people don’t tell their friends about the brands and the products. Owing to the stigma attached to the sexual wellness products, these startups still strive hard for recognition. So help me in sharing this article.
